A string of aftershocks has jolted India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, devastated by last Sunday's tsunami, as aid is slowly making it through to thousands of locals desperate for help.

Rescue efforts are being hampered by lack of transportation. Indian military planes are dropping emergency supplies to isolated villages, and the first naval supply ship has reached the islands bringing humanitarian aid.

A few international relief agencies have begun working in Port Blair, the islands' capital. But they are unable to go to the more isolated areas, because New Delhi refuses to give them permission.

Indian authorities bar foreigners from the more isolated islands, partly for security reasons because of an Indian air force base in Car Nicobar as well as to protect a dwindling group of indigenous people.